Dutch man cheats death twice: Cyclist booked on flights MH370 and MH17, but changed plans at last minute

Maarten De Jonge cheats death twice by switching MH370 and MH17 flights

A Dutch man cheated death on both recent doomed Malaysia Airlines flights after booking tickets on MH370 and MH17 but changing plans at the last minute.

Maarten De Jonge, 29, a cyclist who rides with Malaysia’s Terengganu Cycling Team, switched from MH370 in March to avoid a lengthy stopover and switched from MH17 last week to take a later flight and save money.

“It’s inconceivable,” he told Dutch public broadcaster RTV Oost. “I am very sorry for the passengers and their families, yet I am very pleased I’m unharmed.”

My story is ultimately nothing compared to the misery in which so many people are dead

In a statement on his website, he said he was “overwhelmed” by the international responses to his fortune in narrowly avoiding death but said the focus should be on the victims and their families.

“How happy I am for myself and my family that I was on this flight and did not take it the last moment; my story is ultimately nothing compared to the misery in which so many people are dead,” he said. “Attention should be paid to the victims and survivors. Wishing everyone affected by this disaster a lot of strength.”

De Jonge said his ordeal would not deter him from flying on Malaysia Airlines and he plans to go ahead with a flight on the airline to Malaysia via Frankfurt.

“I have been lucky twice,” he said.

“You should try not to worry too much because then you won’t get anywhere. I could have taken that one [MH17] just as easily.”

The attack on MH17 in airspace above Ukraine came less than five months after the disappearance of MH370 and has led to a series of people whose lives were caught up in both flights.

An Australian woman, Kaylene Mann, lost her brother Rod Burrows and his wife Mary after the disappearance of MH370 in March and lost her stepdaughter, Maree Rizk, who was travelling with her husband on MH17.